Richard Gorlick, MD, who was diagnosed with sarcoma at 13, credits his childhood cancer experience with steering him toward medicine rather than the furniture-making career he once imagined. He is now head of the Division of Pediatrics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Gorlick entered a combined seven-year medical program at Brooklyn College and SUNY Downstate Medical Center and ultimately chose pediatric oncology. He completed his residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and a pediatric oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he specialized in sarcoma, became a physician-scientist, and established his first laboratory. After about a decade at Memorial Sloan Kettering, he helped build the pediatric hematology-oncology division at Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He joined MD Anderson as division head in 2016.
A prolific researcher focused on osteosarcoma, Gorlick has been an investigator on large clinical trials, including the EURAMOS-1 trial, and helped establish a national osteosarcoma tissue bank through the Children’s Oncology Group. His team developed patient-derived xenograft models used by numerous laboratories and maintains a bone tumor resource laboratory that participates in an NCI-funded drug testing consortium. His laboratory concentrates on molecular pharmacology, proteomics, and identifying surface targets for osteosarcoma, and he sees antibody-drug conjugates as a promising therapeutic avenue.
Gorlick notes that progress in osteosarcoma has been challenging but says each trial advances understanding even when it does not produce immediate breakthroughs. His weekly routine balances clinical care, research, and administration: Mondays are typically for seeing osteosarcoma patients, Tuesdays for administrative duties, Wednesdays for laboratory work, and Thursdays and Fridays remain flexible to meet emerging needs. He also teaches fellows when time allows.
Recognition from the American Society of Clinical Oncology has punctuated his career. Early awards, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award and Career Development Award, helped him transition to an independent physician-scientist. In 2024 he received ASCO’s Pediatric Oncology Award.
Gorlick is deliberate about sharing his own cancer history with patients, choosing disclosure when it may help while respecting that each patient’s experience is unique. He recalls a patient whose repeated trial participation allowed him to graduate college and live seven additional years; the patient’s resilience and appreciation reinforced Gorlick’s commitment to improving outcomes.
Medicine runs in Gorlick’s family. He is married to Anne Kleiman, DO, a neuro-oncologist at MD Anderson. Their son, Joshua R. Gorlick, MD, is chief fellow in hematology-oncology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Joshua’s wife, Mary-Kate Gorlick, MD, is an assistant professor at UTHealth Houston and assistant medical director of Harris Health System. Their daughter, Sarah, holds a mechanical engineering undergraduate degree and an MBA and works in consulting. Another brother changed career plans to become a physician after Gorlick’s diagnosis, illustrating the diagnosis’s influence on the family.
Gorlick describes his guiding principle as doing the right thing in clinical care, mentorship, and leadership. Colleagues say he is patient-centered, fair, transparent, and a leader who empowers others while elevating their accomplishments. He considers mentoring rising clinicians and researchers among his most important contributions.
A lifelong New Yorker until his move to MD Anderson, Gorlick values the center’s focus on cancer research and its mission-driven culture. Outside work, he prioritizes time with his granddaughter, seeing grandparenting as a second opportunity to be present. An early riser, he says he finds professional and personal life “incredibly exciting” and describes himself as happy with his career, family, and colleagues.
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